Stators of conventional motors which have an inner rotor and a wound outer stator, are typically made of single piece iron laminations stacked along the axial direction of the motor. Such constructions have a low number of pieces and high stator stability. However, winding of coils on a stator core made of single-piece laminations is difficult and time-consuming due to the narrow opening remaining between the inner ends of adjacent teeth or poles of the stator core. Furthermore, the limited possibilities for wire guidance does not allow optimization of the copper fill factor. The copper fill factor relates to the percentage of the area for the windings within the stator core which is actually occupied by the windings. Generally, a higher fill factor, means better motor performance. However, free space is required for the winding machine. The less free space there is the more difficult and time consuming the winding process.
Segmented stators have been used to overcome the above problems. In segmented stators, the coils are wound on individual stator segments prior to assembling them together to form the stator core. However, besides the task of handling a larger number of stator segments, one problem with segmented stators is how to combine the segments together and to fix the segments to the housing of the stator.
The present invention aims to solve the above problem.